Designed for use as a textbook, this paper provides a data-motivated,
step-by-step introduction to the main tenets of the Government and Binding theory
of syntax as developed by Noam Chomsky. An overview of the theory is
followed by sections on subcategorization, X-bar theory, movement and traces, semantic
roles, case theory, and binding theory. A number of the more recent additions
proposed by other linguists, such as the DP hypothesis and the split structure
for Infl, are covered in the final section. The data used is primarily English,
but also includes Abaza, Chichewa, Eskimo, French, Hixkaryana, Mohawk,
Tiwa, Tzotzil, Urubú, and Zapotec.